Citing Contracts Act, MP questions if Riza-AG DNAA deal legally valid
PARLIAMENT | Attorney-General Idrus Harun's agreeing to a settlement in the money laundering case against Riza Shahriz Abdul Aziz may not be legally valid, a lawmaker said.
Gobind Singh Deo (Harapan-Puchong) said this is as agreeing to drop prosecution in exchange for the return of stolen goods was a clear violation of the Contracts Act.
PARLIAMENT | Attorney-General Idrus Harun's agreeing to a settlement in the money laundering case against Riza Shahriz Abdul Aziz may not be legally valid, a lawmaker said.
Gobind Singh Deo (Harapan-Puchong) said this is as agreeing to drop prosecution action in exchange for the return of stolen goods was a clear violation of the Contracts Act.
He cited an example laid out under Section 24 of the act, which covers unlawful objects or considerations which would render agreements void and unlawful.
Illustration (h) under Section 24 reads: "A promises B to drop a prosecution which he has instituted against B for robbery, and B promises to restore the value of the things taken. The agreement is void, as its object is unlawful."
"So the question is, is such an agreement (in the Riza case) valid under the law?" Gobind (above) said in the Dewan Rakyat while debating the king's address in the House today.
"If it is not valid, how can such a big case [...] be solved in such a manner?" he added.
Riza, the stepson of former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak, was charged with five counts of money-laundering totalling US$248 million (RM1.08 billion) linked to 1MDB between April 2011 and November 2012.
On May 14, Riza was granted a discharge not amounting to an acquittal (DNAA) over five money laundering charges subject to him fulfilling the terms of an agreement with the prosecution for him to return to the government millions of ringgit.
According to Idrus, among the terms of the settlement proposed by Riza’s solicitors in a letter dated Nov 18, 2019, were for the accused was to surrender his rights to three properties seized by the US Department of Justice (DOJ) in Beverly Hills and New York in the US and in London, as well as monies seized from him be forfeited by the Malaysian government.
Gobind said the deal sets a precedent that could be used in other cases where someone accused of theft or corruption could simply return ill-gotten gains in exchange for a discharge.
"You can't say that we agree to it in this (Riza's) case but not in other cases," he said.
He wanted the government to hence answer why such a decision was made.
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